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On exposure to light at night, cancer ... and rethinking normal sleep.

Article Excerpt
There is no scientific consensus about the cause of breast cancer, according to Richard G. Stevens, PhD, Professor and Cancer Epidemiologist at the University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington. That's as true today as it was in 1987 when Dr. Stevens began to publish a new theory about exposure to electric light at night and how it may trigger disruptions in the body's circadian rhythm--that is, the cyclical changes that recur regularly over a 24-hour period.

These disruptions, in turn, can cause hormonal disturbances implicated in the development of breast cancer. Central to this theory is melatonin, a hormone that helps regulate the sleeping/waking cycles. Melatonin is primarily produced by the pineal gland at night and is suppressed by exposure to light.

Since his theory was first proposed, Dr. Stevens has co-authored studies showing an increased risk of breast cancer among women who work the graveyard shift. And he has co-authored another study showing a decreased risk among women who sleep nine hours or more each night. He also challenges the prevailing medical wisdom about normal sleep in the following interview conducted by Maryann Napoli, Center for Medical Consumers.

MN: In just 20 years, you went from proposing what might have seemed like a crackpot idea at the time to having it validated by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, based in Lyon, France. In 2007, that agency, which is part of the World...

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